sanctuary

sanctuary. Originally open land where the divine was present, but later associated with a religious building or part of it, its sacred character afforded protection where no blood was to be shed. Recognized first in Roman law (4th cent.) and by the church (Council of Orléans 511), Christian sanctuaries were later protected under English common law whereby a fugitive charged with any offence except sacrilege or treason could delay punishment by reaching sanctuary, often by grasping the ring or knocker of any church door. He had the choice of submitting to trial or, clad in sackcloth, confessing crime to a coroner and swearing to leave the kingdom after 40 days, in which case he became an outlaw, forfeiting all his goods and his wife, who was then regarded as a widow. If he did neither, he was starved into submission. Often abused, sanctuary became a source of dispute between church and state. Chief Justice Tresilian was seized from sanctuary and executed (1388). Archbishop Bourchier threatened to excommunicate lay officers who breached sanctuary (1463). It was even more abused by political fugitives in the Yorkist–Lancastrian struggles, especially in Westminster and St Martin-le-Grand, London, by debtors, and ‘a rabble of theues, murtherers and malicious heyghnous Traitours’. Pope Innocent VIII (1487) and Henry VIII (1540) limited the privilege, the latter to seven cities. Sanctuary was abolished for criminals (1623) and for civil cases (1723).

Revd Dr William M. Marshall

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sanctuary

The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.

Copyright The Columbia University Press

sanctuary, sacred place, especially the most sacred part of a sacred place. In ancient times and in the Middle Ages, a sanctuary served as asylum, a place of refuge for persons fleeing from violence or from the penalties of the law. To injure a person in sanctuary or to remove him from it forcibly was considered sacrilege. In Egypt the temples of Osiris and Amon offered the right of sanctuary. Under the Greeks all temples enjoyed this privilege, and certain ones, like the Temple of Apollo at Delphi, were known throughout the Mediterranean world as a haven for fugitives. In Rome sanctuary was often sought by fugitive slaves. Christian churches were given the right of sanctuary by Constantine I. Abuses of sanctuary, tending to encourage crime, led to its curtailment and abolition. Modern penal codes no longer recognize the right of sanctuary.

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sanctuary

sanc·tu·ar·y
/ ˈsang(k)choōˌerē/
•
n.
(pl. -ar·ies)
1.
a place of refuge or safety:
people automatically sought a sanctuary in time of trouble. ∎
immunity from arrest:
he has been given sanctuary in the U.S. Embassy in Beijing.2.
a nature reserve:
a bird sanctuary.3.
a holy place; a temple or church. ∎
the inmost recess or holiest part of a temple or church.
∎
the part of the chancel of a church containing the high altar.
ORIGIN:Middle English: from Old French sanctuaire, from Latin sanctuarium, from sanctus ‘holy.’ The early sense ‘a church or other sacred place where a fugitive was immune from arrest’ gave rise to senses 1 and 2.

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sanctuary

sanctuary a place of refuge or safety; originally, a church or other sacred place where a fugitive was immune, by the law of the medieval Church, from arrest. By English common law, a fugitive charged with any offence but sacrilege and treason might escape punishment by taking refuge in a sanctuary, and within forty days confessing his crime and taking an oath which subjected him to perpetual banishment.

The word is recorded from Middle English in the sense a holy place, a temple, or the inmost recess or holiest part of such a place; it comes ultimately from Latin sanctus ‘holy’.sanctuary lamp a candle or small light left lit in the sanctuary of a church, especially (in Catholic churches) a red lamp indicating the presence of the reserved Sacrament.

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Sanctuary

Sanctuary (Lat., sanctuarium). A holy place, especially in Christianity the part of a church containing the altar (or high altar). The right (or benefit) of sanctuary was recognized in Roman law, limited by Justinian in 535 to more serious crimes. Canon law allowed sanctuary for a limited period so that compensation might be agreed (sacrilege and treason were excepted).

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